For the first time in history, Australians’ overall food consumption has decreased.
In the year ending June 30, 2023, Australians bought 14.8 million tons of food and non-alcoholic drinks overall, down 1.9 percent from 15.1 million tonnes in the year prior, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Friday.
Since the ABS began tracking it in 2018–19, this is the first time the overall apparent consumption of food and nonalcoholic beverages has decreased.
Every major food group’s apparent consumption decreased, with vegetables showing the biggest decline at 14 grams per person per day, followed by fruit (12 grams), milk, and non-alcoholic beverages.
“Each person had 186 grams of vegetables a day in 2022-23, down from 200 grams a day in 2021-22,” Paul Atyeo, ABS health statistics spokesperson, said in a media release.
“We also went from eating 150 grams of fruit to 138 grams a day during 2022-23, while milk products fell from 278 to 267 grams.”
Food and non-alcoholic beverage sales increased by 7.5 percent in the year ending in June, according to separate figures released by the ABS in July 2023.
Dairy and allied items experienced the greatest annual inflation rate, at 15.2 percent.
According to the ABS, Australia’s per-person consumption of fruit juice, bread, and cow’s milk has decreased by five to eight percent from 2018–19.
During that time, there was a 16 percent rise in potato chip consumption and a 10 percent increase in chocolate consumption.
